Creation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

CHAPTER FIVE
THE CREATION OF MAN
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons,
and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of
the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made
two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to
rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over
the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:
and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day. (Ge 1:14-19)
We have already explained why the Book of Genesis tells us that light
was created in the first day of the creation and that the sun and the stars
were created on the fourth day. The sun and the stars when God
created them were hidden in a cloud of dense dust that surrounded
them, which made an observer on earth unable to discern their shape,
but rather to see diffuse light. Scientists tell us that it took a billion
years for the dust to settle down, and only then could the sun and the
stars be visible. The Book of Genesis tells us the same thing in a
simplified way that we can understand, without using scientific jargon.
Not only were these stars created to give life, but also to be “for
signs and for seasons, and for days” because the revolution of these
heavenly bodies is the means by which man will be able to compute
time.
The creation of light was very essential for life to start on earth.
Plants depend on the light for their metabolism using Photosynthesis,
a complicated biochemical process by which plants, bacteria and other
simple organisms use carbon dioxide and water to produce sugar and
starch.
Like a good scientist, God created the world in good order, first the
light, then after the earth which was without shape became formed
through the creation of dry land, plants were created. Plants used the
energy of the sun to form nutritive materials to help them grow. God
also put in the plants the power to recreate or reproduce themselves,
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